For Those Long Coding Sessions: The Food Patch

rtphokie writes "The U.S. Army has created a Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System which works similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches but delivers vitamins and other micronutrients. It was developed to help "warfighters sustain their physical and mental performance" during high intensity conflict. Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."

What flavors?

I'd really like tandoori chicken with mint sauce, please. Oh yeah, my arm has no taste buds. Dang.

Re:What flavors?

Slashdotters can code?

No vits, please

I don't need no stinking vitamins

I just want a caffeine patch. - Well, maybe a junk food patch. I can see this.

Re:hell with food, MORE DRUGS

go pills are not crank.

According to the US government [whitehousedrugpolicy.gov], one of the meanings of "crank" is amphetamine. Since "go pills" are dexedrine, and dexedrine is an amphetamine, I think that "go pills are crank" is a logically true statemnt.

There's a reason why some drugs are legal.

Of course, Zoloft, Xanthax, Prozac, Lithium and other popular happy pills which are regularly consumed by a third of americans are considered to be a normal way of life

What you say is more true than you know. When I started taking Prozac, my life turned around. My life became normal again. So yes, a lot of people probably shouldn't be taking the drugs they do. But a lot of other people should. Please don't associate scientifically tested and proven useful medical drugs with common street drugs. Anybody who scoffs at the use of medications such as SSRIs and thinks of them as nothing more than "happy pills" probably hasn't been or known someone in their life who has suffered from and been diagnosed with major depression.

Before you jump on the what-about...-train, I'll admit that drugs like marijuana do have ligitimate medical uses. However, recent research has isolated the elements of the plant that work for pain relief from the other elements, such as those that cause the "high" that can permanently damage the brain's pleasure receptors after frequent use. If that first element can be administered seperately in a refined form, say in a pill, shot or nasal spray, it can be safely taken. Heck, even a patch (strangely, sounds almost on-topic). That is the difference between street drugs and prescription drugs.

Now if advocates put half the energy into fighting the medical industry as they did getting their pet stoner-drug legalized, these prescriptions would be cheap enough for anyone (who needs them) to afford. But prescription drugs make a nice scapegoat (mischaracterise, scream "me too!") for anyone who is cranky that they can't get their daily high.

Re:There's a reason why some drugs are legal.

However, recent research has isolated the elements of the plant that work for pain relief from the other elements, such as those that cause the "high" that can permanently damage the brain's pleasure receptors after frequent use.

Wow, there's nothing like slashdot for unsupported claims about scientific 'fact'.

Please refer to
http://www.canorml.org/healthfacts/healthmyths .htm l
for more info on this and other myths.

I suppose it makes sense...

Clinical studies show that, while only about 20% (less now, I'm thinking) of Americans are addicted to cigarettes, 100% are addicted to food.

Hopefully, this patch will help people with a food abuse problem to combat it and overcome it. In moderation, food is a good and healthy thing, but as with so many things, there is such a thing as too much.

I wonder how long it's going to take them to come up with the Sleep patch? Now that's an addiction I'd like to kick...

Re:I suppose it makes sense...

I'm way more interested in an Air patch. Having to breathe all the time is really inconvenient.

Re:I suppose it makes sense...

i'm hoping for a sex patch so i can stop getting laid all the time

oh wait...

be careful, you are slashdotting an .mil server

Not sure if it would be a wise idea to slashdot a military server these days. You might be considered a terrorist.

Re:be careful, you are slashdotting an .mil server

The site is NIPRnet (unclass military network) or internet-only - sensitive but unclassified max or it wouldn't be out there, judging by the lack of authentication and encryption.

Slashdotting it would be considered a normal network incident subject to someone having to come in over the weekend and fix (reboot). I don't think we need worry about our doors being broken in over this.

Paranoia sucks.

Btw, I work for the military: I know what i am talking about here.

No.

Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions.

This may have been said jokingly, but it definately isn't what we need. Not only do TNDS' not give you a delicious taste in your mouth, they don't tell your body that you are full either. If we want fatter geeks, this is the way to go. Otherwise, I'll just stick to my perishable food.

Re:Jolt patches...

Actually, you could use nicotine patches. Nicotine is a stimulant, and when you first start using the patches, you can really tell. When I first started using patches to quit smoking, I was racing around and away much later than usual, but always full of energy. I stopped taking them abruptly one day, and I crashed, just like what happens after any other stimulant binge.

Re:No.

I know a guy who lost 150 pounds by just taking the refridgerator out of his computer room.

Moving a 150 pound refrigerator from the computer room and back into the kitchen from where it came does NOT constitute weight loss.

Re:No calories?

Yes, carbohydrates, protein, and fatty acids are macronutrients, that is, nutrients your body needs in fairly large amounts (protein 30g/day, carbohydrates 250g/day, fatty acids 100g/day or thereabouts). These patches only contain micronutrients, that is, nutrients we only need in sub gram amounts (e.g., vitamin C 65mg/day - 500mg/day depending on which authotity you believe, and what stresses you're under).
So I really don't see how these patches could be a complete solution, although they might be useful for replacing lost electrolytes like potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. When you're engaged in physical exertion for long periods of time though, you really need macronutrients. This is why marathon runners and triathletes drink sports beverages and/or eat power bars. In addition to the electrolyes in, lets say gatorade, you also get a load of sugar (carbohydrates) for energy. These patches would only help with half the problem, and the smaller half at that.
Maybe they just expect that with the right micronutrient balance and some hormones the field soldiers will burn their own body fat for energy. Then when they do get some down time, they eat a meal rich in protein (for muscle/tissue repair), carbohydrate (to replace muscle and liver glycogen stores), and fatty acids (to replenish body fat stores, for repair and growth of nerves/neurons, and for various hormone precursors, etc.)

This will NOT work

Going long-term without eating cannot happen... big problems if you don't feed the gut.

Critically ill hospitalized patients with long-term abdominal pathology that prevent them from eating (severe Pancreatitis, shotgun wound to the abdomen, Gastric Outlet Obstruction from cancer, Crohns Disease, etc) are at high risk for all kinds of problems. It can even happen with anorexics. They often end up on TPN (total parenteral nutrition)... AKA Intravenous feedings. Long term TPN puts you at risk for some nasty complications (see below), even aside from the risk of TPN itself (you have to have the electrolytes, osmolality, etc just right).

The current theory is that the intestinal wall needs to be "fed" by absorbing food. Like many things in the body, the gut needs exercise. If it doesn't get it, you get atrophy of the viscera, and bacterial translocation across the gut wall. This results in severe gram-negative sepsis from enteric organisms (think about intravenously injecting feces... it's about the same effect). Overwhelming gram-negative sepsis has a tremendous mortality rate... most don't survive.

Even without the above complication of not eating, the amount of material (think in terms of simple mass of nutrients) you could get from a transdermal patch is miniscule. There is no way you could absorb enough nutrients to stay alive. Even TPN requires that huge volumes be infused, since it can only be concentrated so much. Some components are not even water soluble (lipids), and have to be given as a suspension. Even worse, TPN has to be given through a central IV line (subclavian, jugular, femoral, PICC), since peripheral veins quickly become unusable from the irritation and osmotic load.

Honestly, I can't see this satisfying anyone's caloric needs.

I suspect this will be used primarily to deliver drugs... something we already do.

The logical extension

"This processor might activate a microelectrical mechanical system that transmits the micronutrients -- either through skin pores or pumped directly into blood capillaries."

I am warfighter of Borg.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.

Insulin patch - good pharmecutical uses

Glad to see some sci-fi turning real-world. Kinda freaky too; guess I know how my grandparents felt about landing on the moon and TV.

Anyway, it's nice to see this kind of technology being developed out of the military budget instead of another variation on the bullet, bomb, etc. It has a lot of potential and I imagine it's not long before we see folks using pharmecutical patches soon - probably tailored for their specific needs/doses.

It would be pretty nice if I could take ALL of my daily meds via a single patch rather than gulp down 10+ "easy-to-swallow if you're a horse" caplets.

Good show, GI Joe.

Beer

Forget food. I want one that pumps BEER straight into my veins!

what about oral stimulation ...

I'm sorry, but when I'm wading through breakpoints, I want something cruncy. When I'm hacking out a killer regular expression, something sweet. While I'm sure the patch is nice and chewy, there's nothing like an ice cold Jolt Cola at about 1a.m. when you've finally inherited and overloaded your native hash object to recursively enumerate its own members.

Point is, some of the fun of eating while coding isn't just the stinking vitamins, more full tummy for that matter. So while I see it as an effective way to feed someone who'd rather starve than gag on MRE's in the middle of a minefield, I'll stick to my pretzels and mint-conditioned coffe thank you very much.

I wonder what is

the implications of this to long endurance sports, such as 24 hr LeMans car racing, ironman triathlon, long range cycling, and so on.

I think currently athletes drink some sort of soups or something to get their calories... just a semi wild guess.

Re:I wonder what is

I am an avid cyclist, and I can tell you this:
It takes more than just nutrients to get the job done. They don't say exactly what chemicals will be delivered by this system, but a cyclist would need:

Carbohydrates, and lots of them. This is the body's main source of fuel during aerobic exercise.

Electrolytes, to maintain the proper chemical balances in your body. This helps muscles perform at peak efficiency and staves off cramps.

Water, because buckets of it are lost from sweating. Dehydration is perhaps the easiest way to ensure a poor performance.

IANAN (nutritionist), but I've been cycling in both recreation and competition for about 10 years, and the things mentioned above are common knowledge to most cyclists.

Long Coding Sessions?

"Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."

Is that anything like the much needed Sex Patch?

Uh, erm, not that I need it. =)

Re:Long Coding Sessions?

"Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."

Is that anything like the much needed Sex Patch?


And by the pr0n usage of the readers, would they make those in both right-handed and left-handed varieties?

And I thought C-Rats and MRE's were bad

When I was in the Army (uh-oh), we'd sometimes not eat but once a day, especially in Ranger school. And a part of that reason was because the meals were so terrible. Oh I hope you never have to eat "Pork, Processed, with Juices" or scrambled eggs and ham that are 5 years old. Now they'll be having soldiers shaving their testicles to apply a food patch. I'll pass on the 're-up', thanks.

Personal Strap-On Aircraft for Auction on eBay [xnewswire.com]

67 posts in..

*mumbles*
Cant be /.'d yet
*mumbles* .mil site, should be able to handle the effect..
*shakes monitor*
Come on ya bitch, serve the page, serve the page!

*frowns*
too late! /. 1 .mil 0

Uhm no

What we geeks need is for those long coding sessions is: better chairs, better screens, workplace ergonomy in general, decent food, short breaks a couple times an hour and a short walk around the block or something now and then aswell as 8 hours of sleep. We do not need anything to keep us glued to our monitors.

I know it's incredibly cool to keep up the pizza/coffee/dew image, I like all three of them too, but considering how bad a lof of geeks handle their eating and sleeping, combined with a bad workplace and little excercise... they're a burnedout zombie with bad back and wrist problems waiting to happen.

Contrary to popular geek belief, our bodies are not made for such abuse, and no, you are not different, you too need nutrition and sleep.

When I played Army we didn't have this cool stuff

Man, when I played Army we didn't have this cool stuff. Sure, I got to blow shit up and that was a lot of fun. We had MREs, but that was before they started putting M&Ms and tabasco sauce in them. Patches? Hmmm, I'll hang on to 'em, but I'd rather have my freeze-dried peaches.

Imagine you'll get pretty hungry, though.

GI Joe: Trade you my patch for your peanut butter and crackers.

GI Ethnic: [bitch slaps GI Joe]

This makes nutrition neutral from religion

Seems like there are so many restrictions in so many religions in what foods that can be eaten on a given day, then using something like this makes it easy for the army to focus on the task at hand without having to worry about keeping pork/milk/dairy/penuts, etc out of a batch of rations.

This is army food that even the Atkins diet could love!

But, I don't think they actually made it???

It seems (from reading the article, madness, i know) that this is more of a "we need this" than a "we built this" kind of thing.

What gives?

-Jordan

I'm confused...

"Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions[?]"

What's a dot-slasher? :-P

Food patch? Need sleep patch!!

I don't need a sticky wafer feeding me fancy "nutraceuticals". That's why they make vending machines, I imagine the pork rinds are chock full of them (not that I could ever bring myself to eat them, mind you. I'm in for the sweet rolls).

No, what I need is a patch to feed me lots of "nutrazzzzzicals", giving me a full nights sleep while I do whatever. If that means lucid dreams overlaying normal vision, fine (I'll just be really careful who or what I look at), just give me real sleep I don't have to catch up on later.

The Food Patch

here's the actual patch:

Index: human/nerd/coder/employed/on_the_job.h
========== ============
RCS file:
/ universe/ solar_system/ earth/ mamal/ human/ nerd/ coder/ employed/ on_the_job.h,v
retrieving revision 1.0
diff -u -r1.0 on_the_job.h

#include <wake_up.h>
#include "../../common/move_to_workstation.h"
-#include "../nutrition/check_slashdot.h"
+#include <eat_a_bagel.h>
#include <guzzle_coffee.h>

similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches

..."works similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches"...

Oh yeah, there's a warehouse mixup waiting to happen.

-- Terry

Fancy vitamin pill

FOLKS!

This patch is nothing but a fancy vitamin pill. It won't "feed" you any more than a vitamin pill would. RTFA!

The only advantage this patch has is that it lasts many days - the idea being to prevent soldiers from coming down with beri-beri, scurvy, and other diseases due to lack of vitamins (which MREs are not exactly high in). If you can issue a soldier a patch every week,

a) You can quickly determine if the soldier is using it - "INSPECTION - Pruuu-zent PATCH!" This is harder to do with a pill.
b) You only need worry about it once a week - for guys on long range patrol this simplifies life. In combat, simple is good.

For geeks driving a keyboard, just take your multivitamin every (virtual) morning, along with your coffee, and you will get the same effect.

Chicken-a-la-King anyone?

I am a US Army vet, but my only exposure to field food was MREs, I never got to see the next generation MREs used now or the older C-rations. When I was in the service the MREs came in diverse enough configurations that there was something for everyone, plus of course the little black market we had running using the M&Ms as a bargain tool.

Still, MREs had a small problem, it t